Vegetables

Aromatic salad green important in French and Italian cooking. It is also known as rocket, roquette, rugula, and rucola. The taste is nutty and peppery at the same time. Easy to grow. One of the earliest vegetables in the garden and essential in your salads.

Plant most beans as soon as the soil has warmed, early May through late June in this area. Broad beans can withstand cold weather and may be planted from October to May. Inoculating the beans with a legume inoculant will increase yields. Legumes do not require rich soil.

Plant in rich soil with a pH over 6.0. Sow at 2 week intervals from April until late July. Sow 10-15 seeds per foot, 1/4" deep, in rows 12-18" apart. Thin to 3" apart. Eat thinnings for tender greens. In this area beets can be left in the ground under mulch for continuous harvesting throughout the cold months.

Carrots like deep light soil which does not have to be rich. In fact, excess Nitrogen causes branching and hairy, fibrous roots. Seeds of carrot may germinate at low temperatures but the germination period is shorter at higher temperatures and a soil temperature of at least 10 ºC is therefore recommended. The pH value should 6.5 to 7.5 for best results. Potassium promotes solid, sweet carrots. Wood ashes contain soluble potassium which reaches the plant quickly. Water well after sowing to promote germination and good root growth. Keep covered with floating row cover to keep out the carrot rust fly. Plant in early spring and again in July to harvest from October throughout the winter. Plant 1/2" deep and keep moist to germinate which may take 3 weeks. Thin.

A celery grown for its large, white, round solid root, harvested in late summer and fall at 3-5" diameter. Great in soup, stew, shredded like carrots for salads. Celeriac needs a long cool growing period. Start in early spring indoors and transplant out in May. Like moist fertile soil. Biennial.

A wonderful nutritious vegetable family for use when young raw in salads, and then later when older, steamed, sauteed or in stir fry. Some mustards are sweet but others have quite a bite. They all can take cool weather as well as heat andare easy to grow.

A wonderful nutritious vegetable family for use when young raw in salads, and then later when older, steamed, sauteed or in stir fry. Some mustards are sweet but others have quite a bite. They all can take cool weather as well as heat andare easy to grow.

For fall and winter harvest, plant 5 cm apart in May in the Pacific Northwest area. Thin to 10 cm. Likes deeply dug loose soil that has not been recently manured. Harvest after first frost for sweetness. A great winter vegetable.

Peppers are real heat lovers. Start plants indoors 6-8 weeks before last frost date. When sprouted with second set of true leaves transplant to 3" pots. Harden off before transplanting outside. Give them a warm spot in your garden. Peppers benefit from mulching

When harvesting, take care to avoid touching the interior of any broken peppers, as the capsaicin is an extreme irritant, especially to the eyes. Wash hands thoroughly after harvesting, or wear gloves to harvest peppers. The hottest parts of the pepper are the seeds and the veins to which they are attached.

An essential ingredient in salad mix with its red and white tight heads. A hardy cool weather crop. Sometimes known as Italian chicory and is a perennial. It is grown as a leaf vegetable which usually has white-veined red leaves. It has a bitter and spicy taste, which mellows when it is grilled or roasted. Radicchio is easy to grow but performs best in spring and fall. It prefers more water and is more bitter if watered infrequently.

A beautiful mix of leaf form and colour from our collection of lettuces, mustards, chicories, chards, kales, red orach, arugula, shungiku, cress, mizuna and shungiku and other salad greens depending on blend. Plant in rows, spacing seeds 2" or 5 cm apart. Thin as they mature, using the thinnings in your salad, and then harvest tender young leaves from the crown of each plant. Replant as the patches age. May be planted in a planter box or directly into the ground.

The banana shallot, or echalion, is a cross between a regular shallot and an onion. It has inherited the best qualities from each side, the larger size of the onion (though it is elongated in shape - hence the name "banana shallot") and the mildness and sweetness of the shallot. Start in early winter in trays and transplant out in spring 6” apart.

An edible chrysanthemum, a great cooking or salad green and lovely edible flower. The vegetable grows very well in mild or slightly cold climates, but will go quickly into premature flowering in warm summer conditions. Seeds are sown in early spring and fall. The plant is rich in minerals and vitamins and contains various antioxidants (in stem, leaf,and root tissues).

The plant genus Cucurbit consists of various squashes. The winter varieties have thick, inedible skins, and so store well. They are also very sweet. Summer squash, on the other hand, have a very thin skin, which can be eaten. All species are sensitive to frost. They usually have large, yellow or white flowers which can be eaten. Both male and female can be found on a plant. We commonly grow varieties from 3 species - pepo, maxima, and moschata. Varieties cross within the species but not across species.

Plants may be started 2 weeks before transplanting out. Space one metre apart in rows that are 1.5 metres apart. We plant our summer squash into black plastic with holes cut at this distance apart and then cover the plants with floating row cover until they are so big they no longer fit under the the cover. Cut fruits often. Eat while tender.

Plants may be started indoors 2 weeks before the last frost and transplanted outdoors with protection for the first few weeks. They like heat and rich soil which can be recently manured. Harvest before a hard frost or when the stem is tough by testing it with your fingernail. Cure by storing for several weeks in a warm dry place.

A fruit used in Indian and Mexican cooking, particularly in salsa verde. Although tomatillos are grown like tomatoes, they are easier and more hardy. They grow into 3 meter tall plants and the fruits are ready when the fill out their husk. They keep well after harvesting. Start them indoors early, transplant outdoors after frost danger. The plants should be spaced 2-3' apart. Harvest when paper husk loosens and fruit turns from green to yellow.

All our tomatoes are indeterminate unless noted otherwise. In the Pacific Northwest, start tomatoes in mid-March indoors and plant out into a greenhouse or covered space in April or if outdoors in early May. Indeterminate tomatoes need to be staked and may be pruned and trained onto a trellis or up a hanging string. We allow 2 feet between plants in rows 3 feet apart. Determinate tomatoes make good patio, hanging or potted tomatoes